CAIRO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua/GNA) – Eight Egyptian sailors who were kidnapped aboard the tanker M/T EUREKA off Somalia’s Puntland region in May have been released, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The sailors were kidnapped on May 2 off the coast of Puntland, the ministry said in a statement, adding that their release followed instructions from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and sustained contacts between Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Somali and Yemeni officials.
Egypt’s embassy in Mogadishu has been instructed to receive the sailors, check on their condition and facilitate their return to Egypt on the earliest available flight, the ministry said.
The ministry’s consular affairs sector had previously met with the sailors’ families to brief them on efforts to secure their release, it noted.
GNA